Improved apparatus for washing ores



J. WATSON. APPARATUS FOR WASHING ORE.

772778688 85: M VAM Tnz norms mans co. wnmaumo" WASHINGTON. n. I:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES WATSON, OF CLIFF MINE, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING ORES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,884, dated May 23,1865.

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, J nuns WATSON, of QlifiMine, in the county of Keweenaw and State of Michigan, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Washin g Ores; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of my improvedmachine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Like letters of reference denote similar parts in both of the figures.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improvedore-washing machine, I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

My machine consists of a long rectangular wooden'trough, called a tie,which is about eighteen inches wide, and of any convenient length, say,twenty or thirty feet.

It consists of a bottom, a, two sides, I) b, which need not be over afoot in height, and and an end piece, c, with side posts, d, at suitableintervals framed into the bottom. These side. posts are placed insidethe trough, and

are situate opposite to each other. The

. trough is open at top, and is rendered stanch by a beam or sill, e,extending longitudinally under the bottom, and which projects 'Ll'om itsrear end. There are cross-sills f f, placed at intervals. under thetrough, and corresponding cross-ties, g g, rest on the top of the sidesI) b, which, projecting beyond the sides and bottom of the trough, areconnected together by bolts h h, secured by screw-nuts 'i. At the upperend of each bolt h is a hook, with which is connected a suspension-rod,k, by

lowered so as to give it the proper degree of inclination. Inside thetrough at intervals of three or four feet apartI place stops p, whichare strips of wood: about an inch square and as long as the width of thetrough. They are placed immediately above and resting against one of theside posts, d, on each side, the side posts serving to keep them inplace. At the rear end of the machine is a launder orshoot, q, intowhich the slime or crushed ore is thrown, from which it passes throughthe hole r into the tie. At the rear end of the machine is situate acam-wheel, 8, having several eccentric cams, which is made to revolve onits axis by means of power applied to the driving-wheel t, fixed to theshaft u of the cam. To the extremity of the beam c, which projects fromthe rear end of the tie, is attached a metallic plate, 1:, with arounded end, which rests against the face of the cams on the wheel 8, sothat as the cam-wheel revolves the eccentric cams push the tie forwardand leave it to fall back against the face of the cam-wheel, thusproducing a vibrating motion attended with a constant succession ofshocks like the percussion produced by the stroke of' a hammer.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The tie or trough, beingsuspended, as before described, is inclined slightly from ahorizontalposition, the rear end, or that at which the ore isintroduced, being higher than the other end. A stream of water isallowed to flow, not'too rapidly, however, through the trough or tieandthe slimeor. crushed ore is intro duced into the tie. through thelaunder or chute. As the water runs down the inclined troughit carrieswith it the crushed ore, and the continually. recurrin g vibratirgshocks of the trough cause the heavy particles of ore to fall to thebottom, where they are retained in the first division of the trough bythe first stop p. The lighter particles being carried over are many ofthemretained in the second division of the trough,'and so on, until atthe end'of trough nothing passes out that is worth retaining. As theseveral divisions of the trough get filled up with ore to the level ofthe stop another stop is added on top of that previously inserted, thestops being added one above the other until the first division of thetrough is full of ore.

This mode of construction and operating ore-washing machines is found towork admirably in, washing copper slime, thoroughly separating themetallic particles from the earthy and other lighter matter mixedtherewith and retaining all that is worth working. It is simple in itsconstruction and requires uoattention other than to feed inthe ore andadd the stops as the divisions in the trough get filled up to the levelof those previously insorted.

Having thus descrmed my improvement in ore-mashing machines, whatI-olaim as myinvention, and desire to secure by. Letters Patent, is

The use of a long tie ortrough suspended so as to vibrate against arevolving cam or other device for giving to it a vibrating shock, incombination with a series of movable stops,

constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said JAMES WATSON ave hereunto set my hand.

JAMES WATSON. Witnesses:

W. BAKEW'ELL, A. S. NICHOLSON.

